Dragon Magazine Issue 159: July 1990

part 3/4


The role of computers: Loom proves that Lucasfilm's consistent computer game success isn't just a fluke or due to big name draw, with another high end and rather innovative adventure game. With a magic system based on music and a ton of cool details, this definitely seems tempting.

Gunboat sets you to patrolling rivers, from vietnam to panama, to kick the asses of the enemies of america. The enemies, as ever, are not as clever as the real people in the historical conflicts. But it's still a fairly fun 3D shooter, with plenty of replayability as you try and increase your grade on missions and unlock new ones.  

Iron Lord is another rather different adventure game. It does have some awkward controls, but it also has rather interesting visuals and music, and a plot that allows you to raise armies by kicking ass and righting wrongs. Well, once again, it makes a change from dungeoncrawling.

Welltris sees Alexy Pajitnov attempt to bottle lightning twice with a 3D variant on his gameboy dominating classic. It probably is a better game technically speaking, but you know how these things go. Fashion is a fickle thing, and the public has already moved on. Welcome to diminishing returns territory.

Nuclear War also seems very familiar. Engage in geopolitical manipulations against AI players such as If-icky Dick and Ronny Raygun :rolleyes: and try to be the last one standing when the dust settles after the mutually assured destruction. You may have been topical back in issue 41, but now this seems a little dated. It could also do with a multiplayer option.


Fiction: The waiting woman by Peni R Griffin. Another sad one in this department this month. An interesting spin is put upon the once and future king theme, as an ordinary man falls in love with the immortal guardian of the sleeping warriors. This can of course only end in tears and heartbreak. Unless he can join them, to sleep until the final battle, and then after that, who knows. If you survive that, all the rules may change. Well, it sure beats watching yourself gradually get old and dying, that's for sure. Roll on workable suspended animation technology. Anyway, this is another one that does what it sets out to do nicely, putting a bit more romance in the magazine. Keep leading by example.


Pulling a "con" job: Convention season is upon us again, and this year they're giving us the advice on how to participate in one constructively better before rather than after. Yay. Thomas M Kane takes great pains to point out that you really really can't do this alone. You need a good name. You need a venue. You need people to run events. Big names who actually work for the various companies would be very helpful. You need booths, ticket sales organizers, stuff to show, and above all, you need attending members of joe public. Oh, and don't forget to tidy up properly afterwards if you want to use the same venue again next year. This looks like the kind of advice that would be good for organizing any kind of big event, so it's another one to place in the general life lessons category, like the one on formal letter writing. Just remember, even if you know all the tricks, it's still going to take tons of effort and more than a bit of set-up costs to make a success of things. Makes me wonder what else | could have achieved if I'd focussed all the energy I have on the magazine over the past couple of years on something else. Oh well, nearly halfway through. I'd feel even worse if I left it unfinished after getting this far. On we trudge.


The marvel-phile: The second marvel article this month is more conventional. Just another vaguely themed collection of characters they haven't found the space to stat before. Topaz and Rintrah are apprentices of Dr Strange. Both have pretty powerful, if not always fully controlled magical abilities, and obviously he feels that tutoring them would be mutually beneficial, with some justification. Even a cosmic being needs someone around to protect their back in a fight and save their ass when down. Plus there's the whole keeping you grounded, not turning into some cackling hubris infected maniac thing, which does seem to be important for powerful heroes. Once again, this seems fairly standard stuff for this column. Maybe next year they'll get to go in the gamers handbook with the big boys and girls. But for now, they're yet more bit part players in a universe teeming with them.


Rhythm warriors: Another new martial art focussed class follows on from the sumo duo. But it's not an oriental one, no siree bob. Instead, it's one specialising in Capoeira, the one that in reality was developed by African slaves in South America, and has quite a bit in common with breakdancing and hip-hop music. Like monks, they get an odd grab bag of special powers, have a limited number of top level characters that need to compete for position, and frequently operate as self-contained units. Unlike them, they aren't particularly bothered with the whole seclusion, celibacy and honour things, and like to stick around and benefit their community. So you get to kick butt, play music, dance, and engage in spectacular acrobatics. Doesn't seem like a bad gig, even if the stats are stuck back in the 1st edition. They can certainly find a place in my little homebrew, and hopefully, we'll see how they do someday.


The role of books: Redwall by Brian Jacques is the start of his series starring anthropomorphic animals. Due to it's spanning the gap between child friendly and adult reading, it manages to be popular with both, and thus assure it's consistently good sales. Well, you've got to have some furry stuff that isn't yiff-tastic, to get the next generation in.

Sunrunners fire by Melanie Rawn is notable for it's good depiction of a hero becoming a villain. Unfortunately, this means wading through two previous books and a bunch of interconnected subplots. One for the lovers of epic potboilers.

Wolfwalker by Tara K Harper sees our reviewer getting context heavy as people he knows succeed. Now, if only the novel would fill in it's linguistic and geographical context. This is why you need to put maps in your fantasy world's books. Other than that, he seems to like it.

Into the shadows, edited by Jordan K Weisman is a Shadowrun anthology. As usual for gaming fiction, it's a mixed bag, and it doesn't explain the lingo either, so it's probably best to have the corebook first. Still, it's pretty good as these things go, with several illustrations and lots of setting building. Good to see another game line flourishing.

Cromm by Kenneth C Flint sees our reviewer give him a second chance, and continue to not be impressed. Bland and forgettable, not even worthy of a good rant.

Dragondoom by Dennis L McKiernan sees him stretch his Tolkien pasticheing a little, so he's merely writing a story in the same kind of world instead of stealing plots wholesale. This is still not enough to recommend him to the more discriminating reader.

Bloodlist (sic) by P N Elrod sees her writing about what she does best. Vampres! In this case combined with Holmes-esque mystery. With a strangely vague historical setting that seems to steal from all through the first half of the century, it won't please any accuracy buffs. But her plotting and character building is already pretty good. See you again soon.

Dragon Magazine Issue 159: July 1990

part 4/4


TSR Previews: Pole position this month is Legends and Lore, the updated deity book that'll actually give speciality clerics decent custom spell selections and unique power sets. Bout time too. It's done by half the team that did the 1st ed version as well, so they've obviously kept a tighter hand on this than the farmed out complete splatbooks.

The forgotten realms sees the Horde invasion really hit in force. It also sees Troy Denning really start making his mark as a writer. He's responsible for both FRA2: The Black courser, the second module, and Dragonwall, the second novel in the trilogy. Three books in a single month. He must have been putting in mad overtime to get that done. It also gets an updated atlas showing all the hundreds of miles of revealed lands between the Realms and Kara Tur which the horde actually come from. No wonder getting from one to the other is such a chore.

Greyhawk revisits greyhawk castle, a mere two and a half years after the last trip, in WGR1: Greyhawk Ruins. Things are very different indeed from last time. So wait, does that mean the last one was a success, or a failure? Normally when things bomb, that's it. How did this wind up getting the green light?

Dragonlance finishes converting the second novel of the original trilogy, in part 5 of the graphic novel series. They have the Dragonlances. Hopefully next time we'll actually get to see them used with decent visual representation.

Spelljammer gets it's monstrous compendium, number 7 in the list. All kinds of weird creatures you've never imagined. Oh, and giant space hamsters. They may have degoofified greyhawk castle, but there's still plenty of that floating round the office.

D&D unleashes the Hollow World boxed set. Awesome! Their world gets ever more weird and high magic. Seems like this really is the year when they put a lot of focus on adding new continents to existing worlds.

The XXVC game gets 25CR1: Mars in the 25th century. I think the name is pretty self explanatory. The other planets should be along soon. It also gets the start of it's second trilogy, First power play. With a tie in computer game coming soon, it looks like this place is going to be as multimedia as the forgotten realms. Only not as popular, obviously

Gangbusters gets a 2nd edition! Now there's something that died without a trace a decade ago. Let's hope it gets at least one or two articles in here this time before disappearing into obscurity again.

And finally, we have an independent sci-fi novel, Outbanker. A solar system fights to stay independent of the great corporate hegemony. I'm betting there's some humorous commentary on modern economics in there. :cool:


Down with the titanic: Once again, after an absence of 5 years, the magazine degns to mention LARPing again. I guess that's a good sign, as we seem to be covering more non D&D stuff than they were in the recent past. Lawrence Schick is either playing the ingenue, or hasn't been reading the magazine he's contributed to regularly that closely, because he seems to have been completely unaware of the subculture's existence ........ up 'till now. Anyway, he reveals the fun you can have with all weekend events, even if everyone is a pregen, the fact that you have motivations and relationships all mapped out helps get things running fairly quickly, and the scene currently seems to be fairly light on the kind of tosspots who generate OOC drama and spoil everything for the rest of the players. Guess the issues that come from having persistent characters who advance between sessions, and lose all that if they get killed are still mostly in the future, when White Wolf joins the fray. Still, there's more than enough big events going on that you can meet people at, some of them with attendances in the hundreds. All sorts of historical eras, plus some unreal ones are covered. So it looks like they've got a healthy subculture of their own, running along largely independent of the tabletop gaming scene. Funny how that works. Does anyone know how the two compare in overall size and demographics, because there certainly seems to be enough to run big events in most cities, yet their online footprint is considerably smaller. An interesting little article, that reminds me once again there's plenty of stuff they could be covering, but aren't. Hopefully there'll be a few more little oddities to come in the next few years.


Dragonmirth puts us up against Mr Potato Head. That would actually be pretty scary. Yamara is not happy about being a toy. The twilight empire faces speciesism again.

Mutants of the yucatan by Eric Wujick. More palladium weirdness.


Through the looking glass: A rather orange installment this issue, with both the header and the photographs using it as their background. Anyway, Robert's brief this month is to cover more historical stuff. Seems the fantasy has been squeezing it out, and he wants to bring a little more gritty simulationism into the magazine or something. Yeah, this magazine is very different to how it was in the late 70's, and while they might still cover minis, they don't do much on the things they're used for. Oh well, all in the past now.  Back to the reviews.

M-3 Miniatures have some futuristic hovercraft and tanks for Battletech. The stats probably need errata. Ahh, the dangers of licensed products.

GHQ give us a whole bunch of near modern military vehicles. This is accompanied by an explanation of the forces that led them to develop, and where they were used in real world conflicts. Another welcome little diversion.

C in C have a trio of WWI planes, all of which get 4 and a half stars. They're easy to assemble, and the right size for using with WWI wargames. A little more fine detail and they'd be perfect.

Grenadier returns us to the fantasy stuff, with a pegasus being ridden by a knight. Always demand for that kind of thing in wargames, even if they aren't brilliant. Up we go.

Ral Partha are a busy lot, with a bunch of orcs, a fire giant, a set of imperial guards for Renegade Legion, and a renamed D&D monster.  Once again, Robert is pretty positive about all of them.


Ravenloft gets a new boxed set. Another case of the little module that could, this proved itself repeatedly, and now gets it's own complete campaign world built around it. Go on my son!


Another irritatingly whimsy heavy issue, particularly in the D&D parts of the magazine. They really do seem to be getting increasingly silly, throwing out ideas to see what sticks, and in the process letting out a whole bunch of ill-formed jokes that probably don't credit being published. Still, there is quite a bit of stuff that is usable amongst the dross this time, and they seem to be increasing their output on other games as well, which is usually welcome. Once again, I do have to wonder where they'll go next, with their current penchant for unpredictable exploration. Maybe they'll come up gold next time.

Dragon Magazine Issue 160: August 1990

part 1/4



120 pages. Off to the city again, it seems. Must be the second most popular adventure location. Well, it sure beats trudging for months to get to the adventure location through jungle, mountain, sea, and insane natives, and then having to get all the way back to spend your ill-gotten gains.


In this issue:


Games workshop is on a recruitment drive in the US Many jobs available to you now! Become an hero, or something.


Letters: A letter from someone who's parents forbid them from playing D&D. Roger tries to be conciliatory, but of course it's not really in his hands. All he can do is point out the best arguments his compatriots have made over the years.

A letter from someone annoyed that many martial arts styles from the magazine are better than attacking with weapons, with comparable damage and far more attacks per round. Roger replies that you are free to houserule this. (but by default AD&D is ZOMG teh anime. So there. )

A letter of complaint about many articles assumption that the DM knows more about the rules than the players do. Most groups do rotate DM-hood and everyone has all the core rules, in their experience. Hmm. This is a problematic one. On one hand they want everyone buying as much as possible, so they can make money. On the other hand, players knowing how an adventure goes or too much about a new monster can spoil the suspension of disbelief. What is an editor to say in response to this? More non-commitality, I'm afraid.


Editorial: Roger continues to gently creak under the strain and quite possibly grow a little more insane in the membrane in response to this month's events. You say the magazine's lost it, it's no longer as good as it used to be. HOW?! What am I doing wrong?! Why won't you tell me?! I can't fix it if you don't give any details why!!!!! :breaks down sobbing:  This is why it's important to be able to articulate clearly what you want. For otherwise, you will not get, as we are not mind readers. Yeah, it's been stressful times. Storm damage, serious editorial goofs, endless complaining letters, trying to get articles uploaded onto the net. Being an editor is not an easy life. Buck up. You've still got a way to go to catch up with Kim's run. You can hold on that long. Another decidedly amusing, editorial here. I do have to wonder if he's exaggerating for comedic effect, or times genuinely are that stressful there. I suppose even if they are, you've got to have your gallows humour.


The enemy at the gates: Forum topics continue to graduate to full article status, with the fairly regular issue of fantasy war and defences getting a good look at. This is one of those ones where the writer examines the logical ramifications of various spells, magical items and monsters for both sides, and then starts building. With very little concern for budget, however, which is where projects like this tend to fall down when attempted in actual play. Sure, there's often the fantasy Dubai equivalent that has vast income from tapping some valuable resource, and can pay to hire the best from all over the world (and maybe beyond, as last month demonstrated) but unless there's both plentiful resources and clear and present threat, most defenses are going to be more dad's army than fort knox. Plus there's the old copy protection & piracy issue. After all, a city is meant to be inhabited. If you make things too inconvenient for legitimate users, then people'll go elsewhere, and then you definitely won't have the budget to maintain your snazzy wards, flying cavalry and truth detectors at the immigration lobby. Still, it's fun to run these theoretical constructs, even if we never use them in our game. All it takes is a few of these ideas to ruin an overconfident group's day. Like dragons with plans, a few cool tricks and precautions is better than a million xanatos gambits that they could never actually maintain, both for players and DM's.


The last call inn: Willie Walsh pops over from Dungeon to provides us something that isn't quite a full adventure, but certainly facilitates them. A fully mapped out inn plus a few helpful statblocks, along with quite a bit of description of what the average medieval inn was like. If the players get a little rambunctious, having a proper environment to maneuver in, fight, and run away will be a very definite help, for drawing up maps on the fly slows things down quite considerably. Like the underdark bit in issue 132, and the sample castles in issue 145, this is both more immediately useful than most of their articles, and a lot more rehash resistant, as even if they return to the same topic, different people will always put very different spins on maps and statting out stuff, and you can incorporate more than one location into your campaign easily, which is often more than can be said for optional rules. So yeah, pretty pleasing to see some more of this stuff.


The touch of the black hand: Another far more specific article than usual, complete with maps. This is definitely a welcome change, and I do wonder if it'll be the start of a trend. Thieves guilds are another thing that you could have peaceful interactions with, or it could all go wrong and you wind up breaking in for the sake of love, vengeance or retrieval, like a certain heroic duo who've made several appearances in the magazine. Interestingly, they decide to make the guild small enough that every individual is named and statted out individually. Which makes sense, given the size of the average settlement in D&D, and avoids the kind of problem we saw all too often in say, VtM, where you supposedly had this 100,000 to one ratio, and yet every settlement had a full complement of social positions including enough members of every clan that the position of primogen actually meant something, which was ridiculous. But enough about things that haven't happened yet. These guys seem to be pretty smart cookies, with the brains to know how far they can push it, robbery-wise, and about the right proportion of multiclass characters to add extra skills to the mix. They're also plugged in to the support industries, both low and high class, that keep them out of trouble. You could do a lot worse than following their example. Once again, this is both likable and well done, useful for characters over a wide range of levels and scenarios. It adds up to this being a pretty top notch themed section. I look forward to slipping these guys into my gaming experience.

Dragon Magazine Issue 160: August 1990

part 2/4


Sage advice: Your ruling on Raistlin's decay-o-vision is contradicted by the novels ( You ought to know by now that novel characters are not bound by D&D rules. This doesn't even deserve justifying. )

There is a half-orc in Love and War. I thought there were no orcs on krynn ( Bloody writers. Skip must discipline them a little. Mmm. Skip is going to enjoy this. )

What are the age, weight, etc, for Krynn's PC races (See the dragonlance monstrous compendium appendix)

I don't understand basic class name abbreviations ( You see, you take the first letter of the class. There's only 8 of them, and none have the same initial. Shouldn't be that hard to remember. )

When do tinker gnomes get proficiencies, and what combat table do they use (2/3, and wizards. They aren't good at regular fighting. This is what giant steam powered mecha which explode easily (and hopefully have an ejector seat ) are for)

I still want more info about tinker gnomes (Um, why? You're not planning on playing one, are you?! )

How many draconians can you get from a single egg. Can you make chromatic draconians? (Lots. 4d12 is a good example number, and the weaker ones produce even more. Probably, but no-one's done it yet.)

Why are there mentions of monks and assassins if those classes aren't allowed on krynn. (Because there are still religious types that pray in obscure corners, and people who kill people for money. They just don't get special skill sets for doing so. You can take the appropriate kits if you really like. )

Why are there no invocation spells (because invocation and evocation are the same school. Your confusion is understandable)

Do minotaurs and irda get thief skill modifiers (nope. We were feeling lazy that day)

What are the stats for hoopak (Meh. Help you play a kender? Skip thinks not. )

How can you have knights of solamnia before they were founded. ( Writing sloppiness. Go commiserate with the House V'neef fans)

Do clerics in krynn get bonus spells for wisdom. Do clerics of the magic gods get wizard spells ( Yes. No, because they do not exist, as Skip said before. )

Where is more info on the valley of the mage (WG12. Buy now! etc etc.)

Can 0 level characters keep their powers when they learn a class (as long as they keep practicing. )

Why do 0 level characters loose stuff when they gain levels ( Because they've been doing it all wrong, and need to unlearn their bad habits to gain truly great skills. The classes are the true ways, and picking up skills piecemeal like we do in the real world is just crap in comparison. Oh if only there were still heroes such as this in this world to teach the people here the true ways. Then you would see people able to take dozens of blows and keep fighting and climb sheer walls without tools like spiders. Oh woe, for these are fallen times. )

What is a time of special need (When your god thinks so. )

What gods are venerated in Celene (Mostly Ehlonna)

Who hates goblinoids (Everyone, even other goblinoids! Can I get an Amen? Can I get a hell yeah? Now everybody scream! )

What are the racial demographics of Ulek. What race is their leader (Read closely, padawan, and all will be revealed. Remember, everyone's human unless we say otherwise. See the prejudice inherent in the system. )


Chill. Coming soon. Rather an odd choice of colour here, but it certainly catches the eye. Hopefully that'll translate into buyer interest.


Forum: Jason Caudill is annoyed TSR don't do more to prove they aren't satanic. Saying stuff in the magazine where only converts will see it anyway is no use at all.TV adverts are exceedingly expensive, you know, and we aren't that huge a company in the overall scheme of things. What do you want from us, blood sacrifices? Or is that exactly what you don't want.

Paul Shuster is annoyed at Sally Jesse Raphael, and the way they slated their debate on D&D's satanicness, with no-one to defend the game. Ok, the fact that you admit watching those shows loses you several cool points. But since we're all in the negative anyway, it matters little.

Pierre Savoie is also deeply pissed off at the utter stupidity of daytime talk shows, and the way they ignore the facts whenever it gets in the way of a good bit of ratings grabbing hysteria. He's rather more constructive than the last forumite, because he provides an address for you to write and complain too. Will fighting fire with fire work?

Dennis Gill points out that roleplaying does a whole bunch of things that educators are always trying to get kids to do. Math, creative thinking, constructive socialisation, reading. Those ignorant reactionaries really ought to research before they rail.

Rob McNamee also thinks that roleplaying has substantial educational benefits. Easy now, you'll scare everyone off.  

Norbert K Bendriss points out how much gaming has increased his vocabulary. Another good bit of evidence that gaming exercises your brain and provides sneaky education. Learning to adopt roles can do wonders for your social life.

Tim A Smith tries to protect D&D's image in a decidedly wonky fashion. Yeah, I don't think that's going to work. Highly specific denials are even more suspicious than admitting to stuff.
 
Scott Miller finishes up our controversy special by reminding us that it's only a game, and people will go insane regardless of their cultural surroundings.

Dragon Magazine Issue 160: August 1990

part 3/4


Up, away and beyond: AD&D has tackled space in it's own idiosyncratic way recently. Now Bruce Heard tries to do the same for regular D&D, in the process separating the two properties even further. While gravity and planet shaping still works differently from reality, it does so in a different way to spelljammer. Bruce gives plenty of freedom for you to create odd shaped worlds, while following a couple of odd rules that mean players won't have it too easy, and the whole thing won't be completely lacking in cohesion. A decidedly curious article, that again shows his skill at introducing ideas that could lead to years of play and many sourcebooks of expansion in a few short pages. He really has developed quite a bit as a writer and worldbuilder, and it looks like he's hitting his stride as the director of the D&D line now. Which is another very positive development from my point of view. Funny how being largely left alone to do your own thing by upper management often produces better results than constant executive meddling.  


The voyage of the princess ark returns, having missed a month in the spelljammer special. This is ironic, because this would have fitted right in there. The ark finds a trick of going beyond the atmosphere, (see the previous article) and into space! There they discover Mystara has an invisible moon inhabited by cat-people. Oookay. That definitely falls into the category of ridiculously huge setting reveal. The overall plot thickens, as his suspicions about the nature of the skyship grow, they lose a captive and a travelling companion, and gain another one. Bruce certainly isn't afraid to shake up the roster of characters in this adventure. I guess this is another thing the system supports. Easy come, easy go. If you lose a PC, you can just whip up a new one in a few minutes. And given all the races he's detailing, it can almost be an advantage to do so, letting the players unlock new character options they didn't have at the start of the game, based on where they've travelled, and who they've befriended. Yes, it may be a bit computer gamey, but it really helps  give your players an incentive to explore, see what's over the next horizon.

Also notable here is how Bruce avoids the monoculture problem demihuman races frequently suffer from. Even if they have multiple nations, those can seem all too similar. The Rakasta here are not only substantially different from the ones we've seen so far, but it's made clear that there are a whole bunch of nations up here, with different customs, with enough detail given to spark your imagination further. And once again this is all sorted out within a couple of pages. There really is no excuse for not doing this unless you actively want a monoculture in your race for whatever reason.


The role of computers: Our reviewers run across another little problem that really needs rebutting. The old conflict of interest issue when they review games made by their employer. And of course, they strongly protest their innocence. We really think the games are that good, and so do you, unless they also fixed the awards, and what would be the point of that? I think we can probably trust them on this one. But still, it shows how much TSR is seen as a corporate entity by lots of the public by now, even if they still like and buy their products. I suppose that's only going to get worse.

Conquests of Camelot is of course an arthurian adventure game. Combining point-and-click and various arcade minigames. Thankfully, although some bits are tricky, you can save anywhere, and create multiple backups. 3D graphics are progressing rapidly, and this brings a new emphasis on making sure you have the right computer specs to handle the game. Looks like that issue is going to become the persistent problem stupid copy protection schemes were last year.

Draconian: Drakkhen is an incredibly tricky adventure, but also has a ton of depth. With a 40 page mini novel included to set up the game's plot, (which it really isn't a good idea to skip.) and monsters that are a real challenge right from the offset, requiring you to learn how to optimize your party to get anywhere, it's not for the casual gamer. Be prepared to work hard and be patient if you want to see all the cool stuff here.

Phantasy Star II gets the same epic result as it's predecessor. It builds upon the same principles nicely, with plenty of new stuff joining the old favourites, with cool new equipment, and bigger and badder opposition to match. Sega, like apple, are still a healthy gaming platform at this time.


Tired of fighting the same old dragons, Try fifth cycle. I don't remember this one, but somehow it smells of fantasy heartbreaker. Any more info will as ever be welcomed.


The ecology of the gibbering mouther: Ha. Lesson no 1. You do not fuck with the sage. Especially when said narrator is an active adventurer who got their knowledge of various monsters the hard way. We've seen that lesson before, but it remains just as amusing here. We also get some nicely evocative descriptions of the titular blasphemy against nature and sanity. This time it's the fiction that's better than the footnotes, which are merely serviceable. However it's also pretty good as a selection of plot ideas to steal an incorporate into your own game. If you are ever short of an adventure hook, blackmail the players into doing the dirty work of the city officials, put a gelatinous cube at the bottom of a pit, and set up yet more other diabolical traps. Pretty nice reading here.


Fiction:Thief on a string by Dean Edmonds. It's not just genies and demons that get trapped by wizards against their will, and forced to obey any commands they're given to the letter. Fortunately, humans are no slouches at rules lawyering either, and this kind of thing often ends badly for said wizard. So it goes here, in another entertaining little tale with nice edges of both humour and sadism. He manages to get me attached enough to the main character that the subsequent mindfucking feels pretty nasty, which isn't that easy in a short story. The fiction section really is getting in good writers lately, as the rest of the magazine struggles. But then, they probably have a larger slush pile, since they only have to find one good story per issue, not a good dozen articles, and there are more general fiction writers out there than good rules designers.


There are no generic Black Belts: Off to Top Secret land, for the first time in a while. A fairly familiar subject, though. Martial arts. How many articles have we had on them so far? I'm pretty sure at least one of the Top Secret ones has involved MA too. And this article offers a considerable power boost to their users, and the expense of some tedious pontification about training times. Special techniques, descriptions of a whole bunch of real world MA's, shouting to enhance your abilities, it's pretty obvious what target audience this article is aimed at. Guess they're still a substantial buyer demographic that needs catering too. I fail to be enthralled, on the other hand.


Super jobs for super talents: Rather than a marvel article this month, they choose to have a system free bit of roleplaying advice suitable for any supers game. This is another one of those ones that tries to inject a little more realism and logical consequences into your superhero gaming. Questions of human rights, international treaties governing the treatment of use of powers and treatments of captured supervillains, This kind of thing has been on the rise for some time now, and this pushes forward that agenda decently, with a bunch of speculations, adventure hooks, and sample setting details for you to draw upon. Course, another thing that's on the rise is railroading, and the writer has some very definite "proper" solutions for his scenarios, and doesn't want players with inconvenient powers short-circuiting them. This adds up to another interesting but irritating article that needs a bit of customisation to your own campaign and the players involved before you can use it. Oh, the hassle of writing for characters who actually have a little power. My media empire for someone who can do it consistently and still make fun stories.

Dragon Magazine Issue 160: August 1990

part 4/4


Novel ideas: The Buck Rogers line is the subject of a little more promotion here. We see how much the upper management are actually paying attention to this one, with Lorraine, Flint and Mike Pondsmith all contributing quotes. The book series is if anything, more important than the gaming side, because that's where they're really going for the mass market penetration, to match the old comics and TV show. This is not to say they're not trying for consistent worldbuilding as well, attempting to put some hard sci-fi speculation and strong continuity into the old pulp stories. This attempt to do everything may be half the problem with the line in the first place. When management is giving out all sorts of tricky and somewhat contradictory orders at once, but not explaining how to carry them out, things become tremendously stressful for the actual writers, and it shows through in the actual products. Another interesting indicator of exactly why tensions were running high in the TSR offices around this period. What are we to make of this. It does make me wonder how things would have been different if the line had been a success, and continued rather than being cancelled a little while later. Certainly a topic worth speculating on. What effect did Buck's flopping have on Flint and Lorraine, and their approach to the company in general?


The game wizards: Ravenloft came out a couple of months ago. Might as well slip in a little more promotion. Andria Hayday tries to set the mood by telling us how it got under her skin during the writing process, alone late at night in the TSR offices with the wind whistling around the windows. Frightened? I think I might die from sheer cliche overload. The way the descriptions are done is a very definite reminder that horror has a rather larger proportion of female readers than straight fantasy. (Indeed, I suspect that's why it gets it's own section in the bookstores, while fantasy and sci-fi get lumped together for the browser to figure out what's which.) Mixing attraction and revulsion, romance and the threat of violation seems to be a formula that works, and I can understand why, even if it's not one of my personal kinks. Anyway, this is another attempt to make promotion entertaining, with mixed results. But it's given us an interesting conversational topic, so that's ok.


TSR Previews: Lankhmar takes pole position this time, unusually. LNR1: Wonders of Lankhmar. A book full of short adventures. How will they differ from the several books of generic short D&D adventures already out?

The forgotten realms, once again, is getting more products and faster than any other world. David Cook delivers The Horde boxed set, the centrepiece of this year's metaplot maneuverings. Welcome to fantasy mongolia. See the sights, meet interesting new creatures, and get killed by the long harsh miserable trek between interesting locations. R A Salvadore, on the other hand, is staying well clear of this mess. Drizzt proved the most popular character in his first trilogy, so he gets a prequel trilogy on his origins in, and escape from the dark city of menzoberanzan. Mmm. 'cesty. (Unfortunately true.) Part one is called Homeland.

Dragonlance is continuing to get more novels and other spin-offs than actual gaming products. What's with that? The Gates of Thobardin by Dan Parkinson sees the dwarves bickering again. Can someone find the legendary helm and unite them?

D&D is still in a roman mood, in DDA2: Legions of thyatis. Following directly on from DDA1, this should keep your players busy for a few more sessions.

Marvel Superheroes gives us the second module in it's gritty street level trilogy MLA2: Night Moves. Noo yoik is having gang wars? Par for the course back then. What do you expect us to do about it?

And finally, we have Battle of Britain, another fun little wargame. Another fairly self-explanatory name. Fly planes! Bomb buildings! Hide in air raid shelters! Listen to inspirational speeches. Or something like that, anyway.

Oh, and first power play apparently got delayed a month, because here it is again. Silly shippers. Never mind.


Dragonmirth mocks the new edition's omissions. The dwarf in yamara's party cracks under the pressure and wants to go back to the old school. The twilight empire shows how outmatched fantasy humans are against a real one, even if he's never done anything like this before. :rolleyes:


Through the looking glass: Robert throws in some more general advice about holding your gaming group together before going on to the reviews. Frequently these changes have a definite yearly cycle, since so many gamers are still in school or university, and change their patterns every autumn, that's when you are both most likely to lose members, and get the most benefit from advertising for new ones. Flyers and notes in all the nearby noticeboards is the way to go. As ever, the importance of promotion to success in an endeavour is not to be underestimated. Which reminds me, it's been a while since I spun this thread off to another site. I really ought to try that again.

Anyway, reviews. Apparently, 15mm scale is moving up in the world, making fighting bigger battles an easier thing logistically, as you can represent areas 66% bigger on your game table of choice. This seems worthy of note. Other than that, business as usual. Space marines, giant crabs, undead, griffins, artillery, tanks, flamethrowers, multiheaded dragons, giants, western saloons. A pretty wide selection of stuff is still being produced to set up your adventures. Now, the tricky part will likely be finding it in your local shop.


The hollow world! We get to see just how weird mystara really is compared to earth.  Ahh, those wacky immortals. Always pushing the envelope. They certainly keep themselves busier than gods that were born to deitydom.


In addition, we have another of their fun little experiments. Trading cards! Another way to get money from you. A whole bunch of the big Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance characters get very abbreviated descriptions indeed on one side, and recycled artwork on the other. (Alias and Olive Ruskettle in particular look as dubious as ever) Another step down the slippery slope that leads to trading card games like M:tG and spellfire. This is definitely one noting. It can be used usefully, and it exposed me to characters I'd never heard of back in the day, but it may have been another poor step in the long run. What did you make of them?


A fairly substantial improvement from the last few issues, with an excellent themed section, and plenty of other cool stuff, including several intriguing new developments. Seems like their attempts to try all sorts of things has resulted in more hits than misses this time round. I hope they're keeping track of what works, and making sure they don't repeat the ones that don't. That's the way to improve your batting average. Keep looking, those classic and innovative articles are out there. Just gotta round 'em up, lasso them and bring them home. Or is the western method too dated these days? Always pushing on to new frontiers. I guess I'd better follow.

Dragon Magazine Issue 161: September 1990

part 1/4


116 pages. Another month, another attempt to liven things up for their long term readers. In fact, this is explicitly the special topic of the issue. How very telling. Have Roger & co found something new to stoke their interests, or will the advice they give be pretty familiar to experienced trope connoisseurs such as myself. Another chunky issue is here for the taking, and I'm certainly not quitting at this stage.


In this issue:


Letters: A letter wondering why quite a few of their articles are still using 1st ed stats and formats. They have a huuuuuge backlogged slush pile, and getting out a magazine each month being their top priority means they have less time than they'd like to do something about it.

A letter asking where all the various new classes the magazine's published over the years are. Roger is nice enough to alphabetize the answer, but does not include the new one in this issue, for some reason. Oh well, it gives me another chance to double check my list of allowed classes for my own game.

A letter expressing approval at the idea of monsters being given different names in different regions, but with the caveats that they should fit the overall linguistic construction of the area. No dispute there.


Editorial: Black Bart returns, as I thought he would. Last seen in issue 48, it looks like he's appeared in more than one campaign, with more than one set of stats. I guess it's like the John Smith of adventurer names. I am Black Bart! Fear my rugged good looks and dark backstory! You and every other badass wannabe. Anyway, this is another of Roger's editorials where he talks about his actual play experiences. The story of a romance that took place in his game, including the NPC's death, the amusing brooding that happened as a result of that, and the rather dramatic way he brought her back so they could kill things and take their stuff across the dimensions happily ever after. The perfect melding of hack-and-slash and drama. Actually, it does look like he was pretty heavily of the gonzo monty haul school, but they had fun anyway. Anyway, this is a reminder that romance is a tricky but rewarding subject to put into your game, and actually, given it's importance in nearly every entertainment medium, it's surprising there's not more of it in roleplaying. Whether that's a factor in it never attaining wider commercial success I'm not sure, but it does seem very probable. And since V:tM'll come from nowhere to become no 2 in a very short period of time, and attract a rather larger proportion of female players, it does seem probable that this could have been handled a lot better by TSR. Once again, we are reminded how things could have been different, and possibly better, if people had made different decisions during TSR's early days.


Inside information: So getting adventures from shady characters in taverns is growing stale. There are many other ways you can find out about cool adventures and monsters to slay, even if the adventures don't come to you. And this reminds you of quite a few of them. Libraries, marketplaces, rumours, songs, divinations, etc etc. I'm sure you've seen stories using all of these. but it's easy to forget in the moment. So this is one that's very useful to novice GM's, and mildly so as a reminder to experienced ones. There may only be 30-odd stories in the world, but that's still a lot more variety than getting stuck doing one over and over again, as many writers do. And the RPG's out there at the moment tap into a surprisingly small subset of that group.  Yup, there's definitely still room for refinement and diversification in gaming, and they're still trying to push for it.


Romance and adventure: Looks like Roger isn't alone in wanting to see a little more romance in people's games. And there's plenty of GM's who might want to try it, but are afraid that it might go horribly wrong. Oh come on, it's not like you're really asking someone out. Like they've been saying in the forum, an invaluable part of roleplaying is getting to do something safely that would be difficult or impossible in reality. Course, if you try this on your players, you should really expect the unexpected. They'll ignore or spurn the obvious romantic interests, and develop odd obsessions over minor characters you mentioned offhand. Heavyhanded manipulation or actual mind control will likely backfire spectacularly. Similarly, there's that horribly irritating fact that overenthusiastic pursuit will likely scare them off. On the other hand, a little competition can work wonders. And on top of all this, you have to make sure that you don't spend too much screentime on one player's issues over everyone else. When you describe it like that, I can see why a lot of DM's would be put off. So lots of advice and warnings here, most pretty solid. I think this definitely counts as a sign of the times. People are growing up, craving romance, serious commitments to epic character arcs and worlds. Can we satisfy those urges, or will we be left frustrated or heartbroken, returning to the dungeon to smash away the angst. Guess that probably varies from campaign to campaign.


It's sort of like a wand: Ahh, yes, the endless need for new stuff. If you use the same old monsters and items, players will rapidly grow blase and know exactly what to do in response. So encourage the DM's to male up new ones, including ones that look like other ones to surprise and annoy metagamers. I know we've seen this one before. Over a hundred issues ago in fact. And unlike that one, this is purely advice, rather than any mechanical tools to help with the problem of new confusing combinations to bamboozle the PC's with. Not very fresh, I'm afraid. So much for livening up the game.


The classics campaign: So, having spent three articles trying to spice up your campaign by adding new stuff, they try a different tack. Returning to the old classic modules. As with last years's review of the old SR issues, a sign nostalgia is growing as a concern. But nostalgia quickly gives way to pragmatism, with the primary focus of this article being how the modules might be affected by the rules changes since then. Lots of new classes, spells, magic items, all of which could disrupt their carefully designed screwage inflicting meatgrinders. And many monsters have changed as well in the new edition, so that has to be taken into account too. Course, IMO, putting things in combinations they were never intended to handle and seeing what results is half the fun, and an important part of SCIENCE!!!! experiments. But customising all the old NPC's with new spells and kits is also kinda fun if you have the time to do it. And trying to figure out how to fit these old adventures into your world is also fun, if sometimes tricky. Since I'm already pretty much doing this, I quite approve.


Roleplaying reviews: Glorantha: Genertela, crucible of the hero wars sees Runequest return to it's roots, and make a new fan in the process. A snazzy boxed set giving us a fairly detailed overview of the northern continent, it's full of IC information, helping you get inside the heads of characters from various regions and the religions they follow.

Time of the dragon takes us to Taladas, where things are quite different from the high fantasy heroics and villainy of Ansalon. Minotaurs are the closest thing to a dominant race, kender aren't whimsical twats, clerics with actual magic are exceedingly rare indeed, and the whole thing tries for a gritty postapocalyptic vibe, with reasonable success. It all sounds pretty cool from the review. Course, it doesn't entirely escape the persistent irritations of Krynn's writing in general, with gnomes in particular having plenty of whimsy still. Still, at least it doesn't get strangled by endless novels filling in every detail of it's history, so you have more room for your own characters to make their mark. And the presentation is full of all the cool stuff we've come to expect from our boxed sets. Wahoo indeed.

Dragon Magazine Issue 161: September 1990

part 2/4


The voyage of the princess ark must be proving popular, for it expands in size quite a bit this issue. Once again, they make an enormous (and rather topical) revelation about the nature of their world. It's hollow! How about that folks! Not that it's easy to discover, as the immortals have put a pretty good security system on it. Lightbending so the holes in the poles aren't immediately obvious. Antimagic around the polar regions that'll play hell with attempts to get there. (which is a big driver of the drama in this installment, as Haldemar has to deal with his untrustworthy new Rakasta companions without his regular supply of blasty effects.) And your standard frozen polar blizzard that'll discourage any ordinary people from settling anywhere near. They nearly don't make it, with only the amazing stroke of luck that they meet and befriend a gargantuan sloth capable of pulling their ship keeping it from being stranded on the ice floes. What are the odds? This really is the kind of plot twist that would stretch my sense of incredulity beyond it's limits if I didn't know about it in advance. Where's your foreshadowing, man?

Actually, that's a very good question, as Bruce starts responding to mail about the series. He reveals that the series is only written a few months in advance, and your letters can change the course of their exploration. Will they stay in the hollow world, return to the known world or head off into space, and see what other planets are to be found in the D&D universe? You have the power! Or not, as the case may be. Still, it's pleasing for me to discover it wasn't all plotted out in advance. Lets see what else we can discover from the letters and his replies to them.

A letter pointing out that at the time of Haldemar's writing, Karemekos hadn't been founded yet. Silly Bruce, messing up his history.

A letter expressing frustration that nearly all the articles in the magazine are AD&D focussed. This one thing a month isn't nearly enough. Bruce quite agrees with you there, as does the editor.

A rant from someone deeply annoyed that the map from the master set has been retconned, as well as the fact that Haldemar is biased against Thyatians. Quite reasonable complaints. Remember, you don't have to use any of the stuff in here if you don't want too.

A basic question on what the next gazetteers are to be. This is answered efficiently.

A letter complaining that the battlesystem rules don't cover the D&D game. We'll get round to it.

Why is the area where the Cestian gobblers grow uninhabited. Um, because they grow there. People generally aren't fond of being eaten, y'know.

Will we see any more Blackmoor modules. The answer, unfortunately, is no.

Are the knights of the white drakes the same thing as the knights of the air? They're a specific company in the larger army.

The scales in some of the maps make no sense. Ahh, once again, we have to deal with errata. Worldbuilding is a tricky business.

How can there be advanced civilizations elsewhere on mystara which don't know about the known world? Because the immortals treat the world like their own private zoo. Each country is it's own little enclosure, and the way they interact is being constantly messed with. Like the sims, the planet's development only makes sense when you factor in the constant adjustments from above.

What are the names of the halfling clans? Buy polyhedron to find out.


The role of computers: Dragonstrike takes us to Ansalon to ride dragons, flight sim stylee. They do seem to be covering a rather wider set of genres with their krynnish games. Beat-em-up, army based wargame, and now this, while the Realms is stuck with fairly standard conversions of AD&D rules. Wonder what drove that decision. In any case, while it's almost as complicated to control as actual flight sims, they still thoroughly enjoyed it. You get to fight draconians, other dragons, various flying AD&D beasties, and eventually a suitably massive draconic avatar of Takhisis. Ahh, the joys of taking centre stage.

Mechwarrior is a game of 3D mecha combat with a strong RPG element and a plotline about trying to avenge your uncle and clear your name. The elements of buying the right upgrades for your mech, choosing your missions, and haggling over their price play as much of a role as the tactical asskicking. As is often the case, they give lots of hints about this one, to help you through the adventure.

Budokan is a game of martial arts combat. It doesn't look as sophisticated as SFII, but things are certainly headed in that direction, as you have to master annoying key sequences to unleash various martial art maneuvers. Build up your ki bar and go to town on your enemies. That definitely sounds familiar, and it's curious to realise they haven't covered this genre before in these columns. To extend the sign of the times metaphor, the graffiti is definitely on the bridge.

Dragon Magazine Issue 161: September 1990

part 3/4


The marvel-phile: Another pair of leftover characters who couldn't fit into this year's big update. Dakota North, the hotshot private detective with enough martial arts expertise to hold her own in superheroic circles. And Stick, the straightfoward yet cryptically named blind sensei who trained Daredevil. Obviously pretty minor characters if they can't find the space to include them in an encyclopedia now pushing 1500 pages. I suppose given it's popularity, trying to consume and catalog everything in the marvel universe would be even more confusing and exhausting than my efforts on this magazine. I should be grateful for small mercies. Still, this does feel rather like formulaic filler.


Fiction: Shadow play by John P Buentello. A somewhat different bit of rules lawyering to last month, but rules lawyering nonetheless. Outwitting enslaved supernatural beasties when they have substantially more power than you is a pretty staple part of heroism. Course, yeah, diminishing returns, and this is neither as clever or funny as last time. On the other hand, it's protagonist actually becomes a better person as a result of the adventure, if you like that kind of thing. But on the whole, I'm not particularly enthused by this one. Another bit of filler in my nilla.


The role of books: Games end by Kevin J Anderson sees the mediocre reviews turn into an outright slating, as the physics fail to hang together consistently, and the characters act in ways that make no sense. Way to prove the point about their unreality.

Black trillium by Marion Zimmer Bradley, Julian May and Andre Norton should appeal to likers of any of their writing. Well crafted, it does still have a bit of fiction by numbers to it. Still, it should keep them in money for a little longer.

The queen's head by Edward Maston is an elizabethan murder mystery. It does try and tie in events to the big historical ones too much, but the character building is pretty good.

Horselords by David Cook kicks off the Horde trilogy of novels. It's a surprisingly magic light affair, immersing you in their culture and getting you up to speed quickly. Once again, his enthusiasm does a lot of the work, keeping it interesting even if it's not actually that D&Dish.

Ironhelm by Douglas Niles, on the other hand, doesn't immerse you in the fantasy american invasion, taking a fast-cut approach to show events across the continent. You'll have to figure out the big picture made by the plot threads yourself. Still, it differs from reality more than Zeb's attempt, with the interesting new magic systems.   Overall, it's obvious that the Realms are building up and diversifying nicely.

Phules company by Robert Asprin is an amusing story centering around a sci-fi Red-piss legion. With plenty of humour, swashbuckling, worldbuilding and a setup that's near perfect for adventurer types, the reviewer can definitely see the value in this one for gamers.


Scouting for new options: Once again we are confronted by just how much stuff intended for 1st edition they have lying around, and possibly are still receiving from people who aren't keeping up with current events. Curious how all the new classes are for the old version. I guess we have the complete books out, and kits more than adequately serve for minor tweaks like this in 2nd ed. I wonder why no-one's submitting them to the magazine.

Anyway, the Scout. This is a useful little one, because although it doesn't differ from the regular thief too much mechanically, (and even shares their unlimited advancement for all policy) they take pains to point out that they're more likely to be team players with an adventuring party, rather than backstabbing them and robbing them blind. This is very handy if you have players who can't get the idea of reskinning. Say goodbye to backstabbing, pickpocketing, and reading languages, and say hello to tightrope walking, tumbling, tracking, surprise boosting and several useful detection abilities that'll help prevent DM screwage. I think that counts as a pretty good tradeoff. And indeed, the fact that it reappeared in 3.5, and was pretty well liked then too seems a pretty good sign that plenty of people liked the idea and implementation. And since the writing is nice and clear as well, I think this is definitely one for the using. Combine with bandit, Armstrong bounty hunter, huntsman and beastmaster for a nice selection of wilderness focussed classes to fill up your party.


Forum: Another month focussed on feeding the persecution complexes of people here. Yes, they really are out to get you. Hit back, don't turn it into a circle-jerk of misery porn. Bullies never stopped because you capitulate to them.

Tony Pace tells another story of how one jackass and his hangers-on got D&D banned in an entire school. And the punishment hurt other people more than him, because of course he just ignored the punishments and kept doing whatever. Funny how that works.

Paul Cardwell sends out a call to get organized and fight back against the oppressors! Now that's what I like to see. Hard facts, names, places, faces, battle plans. Now, the tricky part is getting other people to join in. Don't let apathy kill your gaming.

Robert W. Heym points out that if you crunch the numbers, it looks like a substantially smaller proportion of D&D players commit suicide than the general population. Course this is the nature of statistics. You can do all kinds of tricks with them so they seem to support either side. It's all a bit of a pain unless you're a mathematician yourself and can look at the raw data and figure out your own conclusions.

Michael Shigetani has become a fundamentalist christian, but still plays D&D, and doesn't think there's anything satanic about it. Still, he's had to fight his case against his new friends, and thinks that roleplayers ought to be at least as organized as their opponents if they want to survive.

Lenny Valure contributes his personal, um, lack of experience with anything satanic about D&D. The plural of anecdote is not data.

Dayle Johnson reminds us that preaching to the choir is pointless. If you want to tackle gaming's popularity issues, you've got to put ads and articles in unconnected places, where people who are not already involved will read it. I do believe I have also said this in the past.  

Craig H. Barrett agrees with Roger's recent editorials, and thinks that if anything, he was being too nice about the motives of D&D's detractors. They're doing it as much because D&D is an easy target as it is an object of genuine hate. You don't see people trying to ban cars, despite them definitely killing more people in a day than D&D manages in a year. Well, you do, but hardly anyone takes them seriously, because the benefits are too obvious and omnipresent compared to the drawbacks.

Jason Aljets has no particular suggestions, but is just angry about all this crap. D&D is not a cause of mental problems! Etc etc.

C. P. Bates wants to see hard evidence of the benefits or otherwise of gaming. Solid facts would be rather useful for challenging ignorance and paranoia. Maybe. Earlier views dispute this.

Geri Balyard thinks that the value of RPG's is in teaching us to deal with dangerous situations intelligently without actually being exposed to danger. And as an addiction, it's much less harmful than drugs. Also, harder to score in a hurry, especially if you start neglecting your friends.

Dan Pryor also points out the valuable things gaming teaches us. Heroism, the value of co-operation, tactics and bravery, the things you gain by being virtuous (if playing some kind of class with a moral code) etc etc. The irony is that it's not just bad things that draw the ire of reactionaries. Look what happened to jesus for preaching peace and love. Very good points.

Dragon Magazine Issue 161: September 1990

part 4/4


TSR Previews gets splayed over 3 pages, as they try and fit in all their adverts at the right size and satisfy their various obligations. Bleh.

Ravenloft kicks off it's series of supplements, with RA1: Feast of goblyns. Everything's scarier with extra y's. The DM's screen is packaged with this, apropos of nothing.

Dragonlance is not only compiling and reworking it's novels, it's now doing the same to the original modules. The Dragonlance saga classics vol 1 collects DL1-4, and updates them to the new edition. Which means the dragons'll be a lot tougher, so the old level estimates might not be accurate anymore. Beware.

The Forgotten Realms is also in a dragony mood, with FOR1: Draconomicon. Now there's a book that'll sell well and get follow ups in future editions. Mmm. Supplementalicious.

Spelljammer is still building up a decent supply of modules with SJA3: Crystal Spheres. Space is biiig, and there's plenty of systems to explore with problems to solve. Here's just 4 of them.

XXVc goes to jupiter in 25A2: N.E.O in the 25th century. Legendary alien artifacts? Curious. Thought this universe was focussed on humanity's inhumanity to one-another.

Marvel Superheroes, on the other hand, gets a boxed set expanding on the X-men. One of the superhero teams the players have a decent chance of joining, it's no surprise they're pretty popular. Stats, adventures, the format as ever lets them divide things up into convenient booklets and handouts.


Sage advice is rather far back in the magazine this month.

Which modules are set in the forgotten realms (the ones with the logo on the front. Shouldn't be hard to put the generic ones in as well)

Where are the stats of the tome of the unicorn ( You shouldn't rely on indexes. Read the whole book and learn it properly like Skip does )

Where are the stats of greenstone amulets ( FR4. Well worth the expenditure, because they're self-charging when they run out)

Will unstable wands explode if broken dilibarately (oh yes. Be very careful. )

Where can I find stats for the scholar class (that's an IC social class, not an actual class. Yes, I know it gets confusing when we do things like that. We ought to theasaurize more. )

How the hell can Drizzt use two scimitars at once. (He's a pioneer! You want to imitate him (and I know many of you do) get the complete fighters handbook. Aren't we nice, letting you get the powers our twinked NPC's can use for a change. )

Will the forgotten realms get an atlas (Yup. Just a couple of months ago in fact. Another thing for you to spend money on, since you seem so keen to do so. )

Has Elminster ever been to Oerth or Krynn (well, he certainly knows spells by greyhawk mages. He's been to earth plenty and read the gamebooks, so it seems likely.)

Where is the info on the places in FR1 (get FR 4 & 5! Gotta collect em all. You'll never get all the info any other way! )

What's clear terrain. (fairly flat grasslands and similar. Blah blah common sense blah blah. )

What scale are your maps (Various, because they vary in size so much. We ought to have labeled them )

When can we get colour corrected maps (Right now! yay! )

There's a gap between the forgotten realms and kara tur maps (Yup. Get the horde boxed set to complete the picture. :teeth ting: Beware of scale mismatch retcons.)

What is toril's circumference (about the same as earth. More lazy design on our part)

How do you become a red wizard (PC's shouldn't be villains. Skip disapproves strongly of this question, as editorial policy demands he do. )

Is chult africa-esque ( No, it's a dinosaur infested caveman land. Not an earth analogue at all, no siree bob.)

Can western characters learn eastern stuff (recycled question. The answer is still yes, twit. )

Why aren't all the rooms in illefarn detailed (same reason all the rooms in undermountain aren't. A combination of size issues and wanting to allow you rom to add your own stuff. )

What's on the other side of the spine of the world mountains. Is it greyhawk (No. Make up something yourself. )

I want more info on flying ships (see issue 124 :teeth ting: God, Skip really ought to get that tinging sorted out. It's starting to get on skip's nerves.)

Where are all the libraries (What libraries? It's all private collections around here. Free access to books is a modern concept. Magic doesn't support mass production very well. )

How big and expensive are waterdeep's rental villas? (Big enough to house an adventuring party. You'll have to keep working though. Floor space in a big city is expensive. By my conversion rate, the cheapest you'll get is somewhere around $8000 a month. New york, eat your heart out.)

Stuff in the city system set is missing and/or duplicated (It wasn't me.)  


The ecology of the griffon: What is it about cats that turns people into cooing babytalking obsessives? I blame the brainworms So many macros, so little time. This article just about keeps the fanboyism in check, but it takes only a little compression of the best bits to tip it over that edge into full on horse RPesque purple prose. (do not google if you value your SAN score) A magnificent and awe-inspiring sight, golden feathered with patterns of black washing across them, with ruby red, burning yellow, or icy blue eyes, they have an elemental feel for the ways of the sky. Suspicious and bold, yet strikingly loyal as mounts, they should be treasured by all humanity! It's all rather amusing. This is another one that's entertaining to read for all the wrong reasons, and the writer almost completely neglects to add new game information as well. Such a shame Ed's too busy to do ecologies anymore. He could pull off something like this and keep you laughing with him rather than at him.


Dragonmirth is verrry obvious this month. Yamara is returned to a fleshy state the weird way. It's out of one fight and into another, and then another in twilight empire.


Through the looking glass: Battletech is still fairly popular, and Robert has obviously been playing it quite a bit, because he's running an epic feature on modding the rules to make a full extended campaign. This will of course involve buying lots of supplements and minis, but the target audience for this probably already has those. Rules for resource management, producing new units, repairing ones damaged in previous battles, salvaging fallen stuff, this does seem designed to allow you to run an extended war where one side eventually gets the advantage, but a clear-cut winner and loser isn't decided for quite some time, especially if there are more than 2 sides with shifting alliances. Obviously this one isn't that useful to me, but it does seem another good sign in terms of covering outside systems. Like the extended articles for Top Secret and Gamma World on lunar adventuring, this is interesting reading, and may be adaptable to other systems with similar considerations and limitations. Another article that's a lot more memorable than endless minis reviews.


The draconomicon. Hey, it's an inherently cool sounding name. Is it any surprise they'll reuse it in the next edition as well.  


Another issue that is very much of it's time, packed with stuff that seems quite dated now, but was cool and new at the time. They also seem to be trying to leave behind certain things, but struggling to do so. Can they shake off the satanic furor. Will they alienate longtime readers with their search for new grounds. Well, we know that, the only question is exactly how the response curve will progress. Onto the next data point.

Dragon Magazine Issue 162: October 1990

part 1/4


116 pages. Another october, and you know straight away from the cover that this is another halloween special. As the success of Ravenloft right from the first module shows, the human desire to scare itself from a position of safety is a perennial one. And so they probably have more than enough suitable articles to fill several years of this, even if they never got any more. Hopefully that means they have enough spares to reject the crap and only use the best, unlike far too many of their themed issues. I suppose I'd better get reading and writing.

In this issue:


Letters: A letter from someone pissed off about the magazine now coming in plastic wrap. They've exchanged environmental friendliness for greater durability. Oh woe for all the eco-people.

A letter pointing out two factual errors the magazine made recently. Looks like they can't do anything right.

A letter from someone finding that a vampire PC causes fairly substantial problems in AD&D. Vampire PC's? There's a turnup for the books. Roger gives us some advice that'll keep things getting too out of hand. At least vampires have substantial weaknesses to go with their powers.


Editiorial: Rogar of Mooria tells the tale of his latest adventure in convention land, looting and pillaging his way through the booths of the competing companies and the local chinese restaurants. Roleplaying may not be enjoying the same degree of corebook sales it did in the mid 80's, but the number of convention goers, and by implication established, serious players with decent amounts of disposable income is still increasing. And they're having lots of fun, between the buying and the selling and the weird attention grabbing freebies and the seminars and the adventures. Man, I ought to go to more cons. Hell, I ought to get out more in general. I have a laptop, and wifi is hardly rare. And working from coffee shop does seem to be in amongst pretentious hipsters. (which as my laptop is a mac, I suppose I fit by default) Maybe then I'd meet more interesting people.


Bazaar of the Bizarre: A horror themed pages from the mages here this month, very much in the Call of Cthulhu mold. The Book of Horrors, a typically life and sanity imperiling tome that it'll take quite a bit of effort to get a benefit from. Just the thing for your evil necromancers to own, so if they players kill them and take their stuff, the adventure is in no way over. Can you turn the evil new spells within to good ends?

Undead Control is pretty self-explanatory. If your cleric fails, then you get a second chance to end things without needless bloodshed. Course, it's not as good as that innate ability, so niche protection is preserved.

Sinuous Horrors transforms your arms into snakes. This is scary looking, but on the whole, probably a good deal less damage inflicting than a good fireball or lightning bolt, despite being higher level; plus of course, your spellcasting options are seriously restricted while you have no hands. If you use this as your primary combat method, I'm afraid I will have to seriously question your sanity

Vampire Mist also looks cool, but does less damage over a longer period of time than the standard wizardly offensive spells. Again, I am forced to make a mad necromancer crack and sigh disdainfully.

Crimson Scourge is also not hugely effective in combat, but in a city setting, where you can use it's contagiousness to maximum effect, it could result in huge casualties, plus paranoia above and beyond that as you strike at the heart of the community without revealing your true nature. Now that's more like it, a means of driving a whole plot. Muahahaha.

Amorphous Blob unleashes a pretty self-explanatory ravenous monstrosity capable of infinite growth, in classic horror movie tradition. Another one to release in a community and watch the terror from afar, as if you put it up directly against CR appropriate enemies without a chance to grow to it's full potential, they'll make pretty short work of it. A fitting end to an entry with cool descriptions, but somewhat underpowered crunch. This one shouldn't cause any long term problems if incorporated into your game, while allowing you to make a good mastermind villain who is still quite defeatable when you actually catch them.


Robotech, the new generation? Has it been that long? Ok then.


The mind of the vampire: Nigel Findley, writing a horror article? No, say it aint so. Another sign of the times here, as he encourages you to get inside the mind of your intelligent undead monstrosities, and play them as beings with plans, personalities, and quite possibly a degree of internal conflict about their status. Be they vampires, liches, ghosts, spectres, or even lesser undead like ghouls, the way they come to terms with their new lifestyle should vary very much depending on what they were and how they died. And as usual, he does a pretty good job of it, analyzing things both from the statistical capabilities of the various creatures, and their literary sources. They take another step towards the environment that will result in said monsters becoming the stars of the number 2 roleplaying game in the world. Yeah, this one really was pretty telegraphed in hindsight, wasn't it. Even more than those swishy antipaladins, people loooove da bloodsuckers. Bad boys, bad boys, who ya gonna call. So, um, yeah, this rocks, and is also moderately significant in the overall scheme of things. Go him.

Dragon Magazine Issue 162: October 1990

part 2/4


Hammer and stake: Call of Cthulhu continues to be one of the more popular non TSR games in the magazine, with an article for including vampires in the game. Rather a step back from the unknowable inhuman monstrosities investigators normally face here. But if you can get over that bit of cognitive dissonance, this is another pretty decent bit of articlage, giving them a fairly straight writeup with both the savage lesser vamps and the more intelligent and refined greater ones catered for. It's probably be a good idea to customise their origin and capabilities if you want them to be properly chilling. But it's certainly not useless, and it's another bit of variety in the magazine, so I have no objection to this.


Out of the shadows: Tom Moldvay continues his slow progress through the entire undead listings and their mythological antecedents with three variants on the Shadow. He also fills us in on the weird editorial decisions that resulted in Shadows being undead in AD&D, but not in basic D&D. An initial decision inspired purely by DM sadism gradually acquired mythic resonance and a special place in adventurers hearts. After all, temporary strength draining isn't as mean as permanent level loss, but it's still pretty scary mid battle, especially when you know what's going to happen if you lose. Once again, he's a font of fun facts, making this a lot more interesting reading than a set of straight bestiary entries.

Skotos are evil spirits who rule rpg.net They recover damage as they hurt you, which means fighting them is not simply a matter of outlasting them. Still, their craving for fresh blood can be used to lure them into making rash decisions. A good mid-level substitute for ghouls or wights.

Sluagh are undead faeries, and a lot more interesting and idiosyncratic than the Changeling version. Appearing in massive hordes, they have very high XP awards for their HD, due to their combination of instadeath attacks, and the shadowesque ability to recruit you for the cause if they kill you. If you don't have an AoE blasty spell ready to go before you get to melee then things are likely to get very nasty. An excellent choice for if you want to play a storyline where entire settlements are being destroyed, and things are getting scarier each time.

Ghost-stones are even more idiosyncratic still. Drawing upon transylvanian myth, if your shadow touches them, it gets trapped on them and they drain your life force through it. Brilliant, and one that'll be a real puzzler for players to figure out how to deal with. Your life or death will depend very much on tactical setup rather than raw power this time. These guys can definitely have places in my game. This selection isn't quite as great as last year's, but that's more a matter of quantity rather than quality. I'm very much looking forward to seeing him complete the collection over the next few years.


Sage advice: Your talk on scale and chain mail was complete rubbish! ( Do you doubt Skip! Skip is the Sage! Do not doubt Skip's word, or Skip will not only destroy you, but your reputation as well. Skip has powerful friends. You'll get what's coming to you for this. )

Did you think up the questions for your april fools issue? (No! Your insanity is more ludicrous than anything Skip could make up himself. Skip is The Sage, not some kind of jester! )

Drinking enwatered PC's simply kills them? That is so unfair! (Only if you're playing a game with regular access to 9th level spells. You might want to think about your playstyle, as that is the problem here, not the rules of the game. So says Skip! )

Ninja can so pick pockets! Oriental adventures says they can! (No they can't! Skip calls shenanigans! You're a bunch of doodyheads.)

You got the number of times dragons can breathe per day wrong (Oh man, Skip just can't win this month. Skip had better call time out before Skip gets even more humiliated. You may have won this time, but Skip will be back, just you see :shakes fist:)
 

Forum is still going on about the goddamned satanic furor. Still, they are increasingly focussing on the optimistic and practical

Andrew Bartmess talks about how D&D could be a tool for good or evil, depending on the DM and the kind of adventures and lessons they put the players through. This is why it's better to stay involved in your kids lives. If you let them make their own entertainment, then you don't know what they're up to, and it's much more likely to be trouble.

Robert B. Luhrman talks about the law and free speech. We have a right to play, they have a right to protest against it. And since they've tried to ban far bigger things and failed, I don't think we have much to worry about. Just keep playing.

Gord Coleman is another person who wants us to get up get up, get organized. Don't be shy, testify! Let out the rage in healthy ways, don't crack under the strain and shoot up the school.

Marian Lynn Lucas used Dragonlance, and it's moralising lessons to prove that D&D isn't satanic to her parents. Guess they have a use after all. And also a reminder just how many of the writers responsible for D&D were christians of one stripe or another. The two things should not be in opposition.

Dragon Magazine Issue 162: October 1990

part 3/4


The voyage of the princess ark: Once again the Ark finds itself rather indisposed. Chasing their escaped captive through the hollow world, they get spotted by the Nithians, and have to put up with doing the awkwardly polite negotiation dance again. They then crash into a flying island inhabited by two rival clans of gnomes. Fortunately, the gnomes know how to make skyships (well, they couldn't get on and off their home otherwise), so they finally have a chance to get some decent repairs in. Funny how Krynn's making gnomes the mechanic race has spread to other worlds so easily. No cool new crunch this time, just some more objective gazetteer material on their new location. Once again we see how having so much cool stuff can be made into a problem as well as an opportunity, as they have devote lots of time and effort to repairing it, and when their magic doesn't work, it really messes up their plans. What other ways will bruce find to challenge them in future issues? Hopefully not too many of them will be crap.


The role of computers: Ultima IV: The false prophet is our only review this month. Since it's a well established RPG series, it is of course an big one, with plenty of hints. There are some fairly substantial improvements in graphics and gameplay as usual, although the bright colours and breadth of options means there may be some hassle keeping track of everything. They look forward to a good few months more completing it and publishing hints on it in here.

This month also marks the point when they make a conscious decision to focus more on video games as well as computers. The market continues to grow with no end in sight, and they're going where the money is. Another sign of the times I knew was coming, but wasn't sure exactly when. Guess history really is rolling along this month.


The dragon's bestiary: More inventive undead here. Spiritus anime are ghosts which animate any corpses in the vicinity, and if you kill one, they'll just hop to another one. A nice little challenge to deal with requiring the use of your brains, like the tombstone one. After all, fighting one skeleton at a time in a full graveyard will rapidly grow very tedious.

Ankou draw on a rather more obscure and specific bit of folklore as they're the undead forms of farmers who killed their families out of greed, who roam the roads and take people to Tartarus. Miserable business, really. A perfect random encounter for those wandering from one adventure to another.


Fiction: A prayer for the dead by Deborah Millitello. Still in theme here as well. They must have no shortage of horror submissions, with Ravenloft drawing in even more writers from that field. This is a ghost story of passion, misdeeds and vengance, where an undead horror needs laying to rest, and the townsfolk are not being entirely honest about the causes. It's going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better, but the ending is a happy one, without being saccharine. Another quite likable bit of fiction.


Novel ideas: Probably one of the trickiest, but potentially most rewarding part of the book department is figuring out what books to publish outside the established gaming fiction ones. They don't have an established name to give them guaranteed sales, but on the other hand, they don't have an established logo putting off casual browsers. So they're the ones that really need promotion if they're to recoup their costs and reach an appreciative audience. So more free adverts for other parts of the company here. :sigh: Outbanker by Timothy Madden, a sci-fi cowboy adventure. The road west by Gary Wright sees a highly trained ranger face problems both inner and outer. And The alien dark by Diana Gallagher stars cat/bear aliens looking for a new planet to call home. Okey dokey then. Once more, this is mostly promotion, with a bit of behind the scenes stuff about the writer and how they made the book. This is rapidly coming to replace Giants in the earth as the most kickable regular article in the magazine. It's neither useful nor particularly entertaining. Once again I sigh.


The marvel-phile: Oh dear god. Dracula II: Daughter of Dracula. The schlock factor, it is through the roof. The engines cannae handle it cap'n! So Marvel is working hard to shake off the remaining vestiges of the comics code, and one of these is bringing back all the vampires, making the world a little darker and bloodier. Lilith :rolleyes: the daughter of dracula, cursed with eternal life by gypsies and trying to make unlife miserable for her dad down the generations. Family, eh? Who'd have one? Cheesecake outfit, cliches galore, yup, this has a very distinctive style that it's rather hard to take seriously. Get the whips out boys, we're goin' vampire hunting, and there may be flying medusa heads involved.


The game wizards: Yet more horror stuff, as they promote Ravenloft some more. Actually, this is a pretty close rehash of one of the articles from last month, only slanted towards horror. The big thing about horror is keeping things surprising. So you've gotta switch things around, and keep them mysterious. Obfuscate details, exaggerate, never use proper names, keep throwing curveballs. Not bad advice, but yeah, oh so very done last month, only with less pretentiousness. This is the kind of thing the editors should catch and screen out. Once again this column seems to be largely a mouthpiece to drive more sales for their products, and the entertainment aspects ring a little false. Bleh. Still, at least it's better than Novel Ideas.

Dragon Magazine Issue 162: October 1990

part 4/4


TSR Previews: They already had one book on castles this year. Now they give us a boxed set on the various fantasy castles found in Oerth, Krynn and Toril. Must be another surprisingly popular topic among the designers.

The Forgotten Realms is once again getting more than anyone else. FR11: Dwarves deep sees Ed fill in more details about, oh, you know, in his inimitable style. He's another ridiculously prolific writer, because he also delivers FA1: Halls of the high king. Off to the moonshaes to fight viking marauders. As if the horde weren't enough trouble. Mongols to the east of me, Swedes on the west. Guess I'm stuck in the middle with you. Oh well, maybe I can do a little ear collecting.

Greyhawk finishes it's latest module trilogy, WGA3: Flames of the Falcon. This time, you really do get to save the city at last. Woo. Includes a fold-up mansion, presumably representing an important location in the plot.

Dragonlance finishes off it's second prequel trilogy as well. You can tell we're getting near the end of a product cycle, can't you. This time it's Tanis who reveals hidden achievements, in The Shadow Years, by Barbara and Scott Siegel. Can the pairing give the writing the same energy as Tracy and Margaret?

D&D starts to put out follow-ups for the Hollow world. HWA1: Nightwall takes you to see the preserved remains of the very first culture in the entire world. Dude. Totally excellent. [/bill and ted]

XXVc continues to show us the planets, with 25CR2: Earth in the 25th century. Will they manage to get through all 9 before poor sales see the line cancelled? Dale Henson also begins his metamorphosis into Slade. How long before he loses both his name and capitalisation in the credits?

And finally, we have Boot Hill, 3rd edition. Gangbusters was rereleased a couple of months ago. Seems like they're trying their luck with lots of old properties. Before you know it, Gamma World'll be getting another try on the merry go round. Wonder if this'll see any supplements.

Oh, and there's another product mentioned in the this month section that wasn't there last time. Sloppy as ever. Maztica may not be getting as much press as the horde, but that's still going on as well. Viperhand by Doug Niles is number 2 in the book trilogy. How long before the gaming material arrives?


Role-playing reviews is taken over by Allen Varney. He starts us off with another entertaining little snapshot from this year's Gen Con, as a new edition of a certain popular game is unleashed upon the public. Always a tense time, when one of the major writers is late, it becomes even more so. I like him already. He's got plenty of cool credits (and a few bits of dreck) for me to look forward to reporting on.

Champions is up to it's 4th edition, which is 350 pages long. It hasn't been an easy ride, but the HERO system has survived a decade and improved quite substantially over that period. Allen gives this a very context heavy review, drawing upon his insider knowledge of the game's history. It now has tons of powers, rules for adapting the overall nature of the campaign, and lots of other options. Course, it's far from unbreakable, simply due to the enormous breadth of powers covered, so GM oversight is essential. Man, that's a pretty familiar refrain.

The HERO system rulesbook cuts out the superheroic setting stuff for just the rules. This brings it down to 220 pages, still substantial, but not bulky. Just the thing for when you're traveling.

Classic enemies is their assembled and revised bestiary. Scott Bennie once again shows that stuff like histories and personal connections between NPC's add to the entertainment factor quite substantially. They even have an incompetent supervillain prison for your own game to take advantage of. Most amusing.

Mind games is a much smaller book focussing on a group of psychic villains. It's mainly fuel for adventures rather than overall advice. Their equivalent of a module, presumably.

Ninja hero sees Allen praise Aaron Allston profusely, the nepot. You want to bring oriental badassery to the HERO system, he's your guy. Ra ra ra! Give him more jobs! Hee. How very naughty.


Dragonmirth is anachronistic again. Yamara fakes the macguffin. The twilight guys have multiple escape plans. One of them's bound to work.


Through the looking glass: The advanced battletech modding is concluded this month. Last time, it was mainly add-ons, this time it's the alterations to the turn sequence that get worked upon. They do have to forbid some things to make it work, and there's a huge list of little technical modifications that look like they'll be a bit of a pain in the ass to remember. Exactly how many of them are essential, and how many of them are simply house rules for their idea of greater balance I'm not sure, but it does look like they've been busy with the playtesting and stuff. This seems like the kind of thing that won't get a huge number of users, but those that do will be very enthusiastic about it. I'm not going to begrudge them some nice stuff I can't use, as long as it also means more variety in RPG's.


Bladestorm by I.C.E and grenadier. A fantasy miniature game of swords, sorcery and battle in a dark chaotic world? Looks like they're trying to rip off warhammer.


A quite entertaining collection of articles this time round, along with some pretty telegraphed historical pointers. Playing vampires, video games ascending to dominance, drama, history, this is pretty interesting stuff. The fact that lots of people are doing it obviously means that they can pick the best articles for the magazine. So even if some of their editorial choices are still rather iffy, there's still lots of useful stuff here. Wonder what next month will bring us.

Dragon Magazine Issue 163: November 1990

part 1/4


122 pages. Larry Elmore once again reuses models for his cover. Even the model looks bored with this. That can't be a comfortable tree to sit in. She must have been posing for him for weeks of total time over the years. The subject is pretty reused too. Magic. Pretty vague really, you think by now they'd start livening it up by running more specific themes, such as necromancy, shapeshifting or mind control. Apparently not. Perhaps they ought to say they're planning doing a certain theme  6-12 months in advance, and would like articles on it. That'd certainly help with the maintaining variety problem. Oh well, let's see if the individual articles are any good.


In this issue:


Letters: Roger once again finds himself with too many ludicrous letters to hold on to until april. So once again he decides to give his snark and punnery muscles a major workout. Whatever keeps ya sane, dude. At least it's not Waldorf or female dwarven beards again. And once again we are strongly reminded of their bowdlerising editorial policy. Gotta keep the actual words kid friendly, even if we all know what they're talking about. Sigh. Let's hope they can slip some dirty stuff under the radar every now and then.


Editorial: Ah yes, realism in gaming. And it's cousin who is often mistaken for realism, grimdark crapsack black and grey worlds where everything sucks and you've got no hope of ever making things better. (with thanks to tvtropes) Well, it's not too far from reality. So Roger delegates to Dale this bit of moderate rehash, tempered with current events commentary. The difference between low and high fantasy, the change in media depictions of stuff. And of course how this impacts on the D&D morality debates. Dear god this feels like filler. They expanded the editorials to a designated size, and now they have to fill them every month. Bed, made, lie in it. Just as I have to. Still, it's another sign of the times. Welcome to the iron age. Take good care of your trenchcoat while here, because the rain falls heavy in darkened alleys.


Have you seen this duck? Runequest advertises by juxtaposing the ludicrous with the deadly serious and hoping that'll draw people in.


Back to school - Magic school: Ahh, this is one I knew they'd get round to at some point. An analysis to the various speciality wizard types, figuring out which is best, courtesy of Greg Detwiler. Abjuration is problematic, with limited utility stuff and the removal of the most versatile school. Alteration is pretty awesome, able to fill a whole load of roles even without bothering with other schools. Conjurers are pretty middle of the road, but do have to rely on others quite a bit, which has it's risks. Diviners are unglamorous, but pretty damn good actually, especially once you add a few supplements. Enchanters, like conjurers, need to rely on unreliable aid a lot, but can work around their issues. Illusionists are even more crappy, but still probably better off than they were in 1st edition, with the whole range of conjurations, alterations, etc open to them. Invokers are pretty decent, but again, have their issues, and find it a bit trickier to be team players to compensate for those. Necromancers are a bit crap until you get a decent load of supplements, especially in the low levels. He seems to have a pretty decent handle on things, not giving us any misleading advice. Remember, ironically, having two wizards specialized in opposing schools is one of the best ways to ensure you always have a wide range of spells useful for all eventualities. And that can lead to odd pairing bickering buddy movie fun. I think following this one will be beneficial to your game.


Oops! Sorry!: Spell misfires. Muahahahaha. If anything is going to fill the players with dread, it's the prospect of things not simply failing, but going wrong in ironic and interesting fashion. After all, this is something with an incredibly long literary tradition behind it, frequently involving talented but impetuous apprentices who then have to spend whole books trying to sort out their cock-ups. Course, in D&D, you can't really go that far every time a spell gets disrupted, plus you may have problems thinking of something different to happen each time. You know what's perfectly designed for solving this? Random tables! Another instance where I'm vaguely surprised they haven't done this years ago. Guess even though the technology's been around for ages, there's still only so much room in each magazine. And since this is a pretty short article, that tries to keep it's various results applicable to the large variety of spells out there via vagueness, there's probably room for another, more comprehensive variant on this some time in the future. Not a hugely interesting read, this should nevertheless add a bit of sadistic fun to your play if used judiciously.


Hedge wizards: Hmm. Another article specializing in the uses of the new specialist wizards, this time in relation to getting a job in the community and selling your services. Given the small number of spells you have in D&D, a specialist really has a substantial advantage here, as they get to satisfy more clients a day, and concentrate on doing a few things well, instead of being dragged all over the place by people with unrealistic expectations and trying to compete directly with everyone in the business.  Quite a bit of this seems to be Forgotten Realms focussed, with the new spells in particular being fully integrated with named owners and locations. As is often the case, the math in terms of the levels they're supposed to have and the money they earn is a bit wonky when you consider the amount of money peasants earn, and the amount of things you have to kill to get each level. Obviously you need to assume a pretty high magic world to use it. But it does have a nice flavour, and a whole bunch of low level spells useful for everyday use, so if your game meets that criteria, go right ahead. We'll get the hang of this spells for sale thing eventually.


Magic gone haywire: In a similar vein to the spell misfires stuff earlier, here we have a whole bunch of quirks you could add on to magic items, make them more individual than just another sword +1 or ring of invisibility. As is usual for tables like this, some are good, some are bad, and some are decidedly mixed blessings, particularly when various magic items become sentient and start talking back to you. Several evily inventive ideas mixed in with variants on a bunch of familiar ones make this another article that could be spicing up your game for years to come if used in moderation. And so we bring to a close a themed section that's actually been pretty good, and quite forward-looking. Once again they've managed to justify repeating a topic.